School Board votes amid investigation

LAFAYETTE — A majority of the Lafayette Parish School Board voted Wednesday to keep secret their complaints against Superintendent Pat Cooper, now under an attorney investigation.

The board voted last year to investigate Cooper. But the process was stalled until recently, when Baton Rouge attorney Dennis Blunt was hired. The resolution to hire Blunt did not specify the reasons for the investigation.

Board members Kermit Bouillion, Shelton Cobb and Mark Cockerham appealed to their fellow board members to disclose to Cooper and the public those reasons, but a request to disclose the complaints in writing failed in a 3-5 vote Wednesday.

The rejection is in line with the recommendation of a third-party reviewer, New Millennium Education, that identified flaws in the proposed school’s application. The reviewer noted an undeveloped curriculum and unclear policies for staffing and funding, among other problems.

“The major career/technical programs of study identified in the proposal require a large investment in equipment and supplies,” reviewers wrote. “The proposal is not clear as to how the equipment will be purchased, maintained and updated.”

The board did not discuss the charter school’s application before voting to reject it.

Before the vote, parent Kathleen Espinoza told the board its duty was to review the application publicly. She questioned whether the organizers planned to appeal to the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education if the board rejected the application.

Last year, the board rejected two applications from charter school organizers who wanted to open a total of five schools in Lafayette Parish in the next few years. BESE approved the applications filed by the groups and three of the five schools will open in August.